As the digital leaders of an organisation, the CIO needs to build solid relationships with other business leaders, go the extra mile to foster digital learning, know what they’re talking about and be open to teaching others.

There’s no denying that the role of the CIO has changed, and continues to change as business and IT work evermore closely together, as business requirements evolve and as technology alters how we work. We may understand how the requirements of the CIO role have changed but what are some of the defining character traits that make for CIO success?

Below, we outline a few key traits we believe make for CIO success.

Risk taker: Taking risks doesn’t mean being irresponsible. It means being innovative, identifying opportunities and using your expertise to justify business investment in something different. There is no question that visionary and innovative CIOs are early adopters of technology. They are able to make a success of these potential risky moves by spending time and energy learning about cutting edge technologies and, only then, deciding if these innovations are a good fit for their business.

Confident: When a CIO is sitting in a boardroom with a number of business executives trying to justify why automating a process or changing up a platform is the right move, they need to be able to communicate with confidence. This is especially important when one considers that business leaders often don’t understanding the real value of all of the tools and technologies the CIO is working with this. In line with this, truly transformational leaders don’t only have vision they also the motivation and confidence to inspire their teams to work together towards a goal.

Personable: CIOs may primarily be focused on technology but they also need to be able to work with people. Successful CIOs value peopleand understand how important it is to have reliable people within their organisation. With the breakneck speed of tech evolution, having the right human resources is critical. Being able to understand people extends from their experiences in the boardroom with their fellow business executive to their interactions with their employees, and even to their role in courting new customers.

Results-orientated: The CIO must be heavily invested in the business’ success and in coming up with transformational ideas that align with key business objectives. This doesn’t mean that the CIO should be driven to solve all of the business’ problems in a single go, but it does mean that all decisions the CIO is making should be driven by results. In the past, the CIO was judged by how well everyone’s PC worked. Today, they are judged by the efforts they are making to improve the customer experience and boost overall productivity.

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